Winter Techniques for River Smallmouth

This video is about catching river smallmouth during the winter. Yeah, specifically January. We're talking really cold period, the coldest months of the year, right? You would think the fish aren't very active. Wrong. So, the thing about it is these fish, they're going to go deeper this time of year for the most part. So, first of all, finding them, because they're going to congregate right now. They're going to find these indentations on the bottom of the river, those holes, those 15 to 20-foot holes, anything that's got some kind of a ledge or something that breaks the current. Right on the bottom where the current is slowest, they tend to congregate there. Especially if you've got a steep shoreline or steep bank, like where the river swings up along there against a bluff or something like that with a vertical type shoreline, those are the areas where they're going to really bunch up.

This is not the time of year when you want to go down the river casting and winding because you're going to be casting and winding a lot of areas where the fish just aren't at. This is the time of year where you want to use your depth finder to locate these areas first and then fish those thoroughly. The thing is if you have a rain, you know, a good steady rain for a couple of days and it muddies up the river, a lot of times that moves the fish up shallower. Even though it's really cold out, they'll be shallow. There was a time, I remember a few years ago fishing, it was 25 degrees out and the water temp was like 37, 36, but we had a good rain the day before and the water had muddied up and those fish were in less than 6 feet of water. They will move up like that. But they'll still use current breaks. So you're looking for logs, rocks, wing dams, bridge pilings, anything that breaks that current that they can get behind and you want to fish those seams, those river seams. You know what I'm talking about if you've been on a river. Those areas, those transition areas between the current and the eddies is that seam that you'll see. The water's rippling. That's where you want to be throwing your baits.

Speaking of baits, it's pretty simple this time of year. You don't need a huge arsenal. There's really basically three types of baits to throw right now. The first one is hair jigs and that's the predominant one like a marabou jig. That's my number one bait this time of year. And you can use different weights depending on the current, but an 0.8 ounce to a 0.25 ounce is a good start. You want it to get down to the bottom and then bumble along with the current. And typically hanging it down on the bottom is the way to do it and they'll pick it up off the bottom. So, I throw upstream at about a 45 degree angle, like right at the beginning of that current seam and let it drift right down that current seam. Or, I'll throw into the calm water and bring it out to that current seam and let it drift on down. Or, I'll be in the calm water and cast out in the current and bring it in. Sometimes the best is one way or the other. So you have to experiment with that. But typically, it's throwing up current and letting it drift down with the current. The stronger the current is, the more weight you're going to need. You may have to go up to a 0.75-ounce weight. I don't normally go to that, but up to 0.5 ounce is not unusual.

The next bait is a 3-inch Senko-style bait. Small, bait fish size. Not your normal 4 or 5-inch Senko-style bait. Here's a 3 inch and you want to get some weight behind that. So, you can fish it wacky with a jig head or you can fish like a round ball jig. Or, you can rig it Texas style if you're getting hung up a lot with a bullet sinker on there. I don't like using bullet sinkers too much in current because they tend to wedge in the rocks. But that might be an alternative that will work for you. But typically again, .08 ounce to 0.25 ounce is a good starting range. And then if you've got too much current to deal with, then you might want to move up a little bit. Same presentation. Throw it upstream and let it drift with the current past these main areas. Go past that wing dam or past that rock pile that's breaking all the current. You let it swing by there and then drift it into that eddy and [vocalization]. You have to see your line go [vocalization]. That's all you need to tell you that you got a fish on. Reel up, set the hook.

The last bait is a crankbait, specifically a crawdad-pattern crankbait. They come in red, greens or brown hues. Try all three. I usually start with a brown just from my area, it seems to work better. But once you've done this for a little bit, you start to figure out what color tends to work best in your area. But it doesn't mean it's exclusive to the others. The others can work too on certain days, just dependent on cloud cover and the turbidity of the water. But a medium-diving crankbait. You don't need a deep-diving crankbait right now. But the same thing, a medium-diving crankbait. Throw it upstream, reel it in. Again, same exact place as I mentioned just to you before. Take it easy though. You don't need to burn it back right now. Nice and slow, a steady retrieve is going to work best for you. You can do stop and go as well. So if you're not getting bit with a nice slow steady retrieve, give it a pause and then reel again. Sometimes the fish will come out and they're chasing that bait and then it pauses, now, it's right in their face and they have to react to it. And a lot of times that elicits a strike.

So, with those three baits and what I just told you where the fish are at and how to find them, you should be able to catch those wintertime smallies in the current. Hope that helps. For more tips and tricks like this, visit bassresource.com.